rovide for them during the absence of their
parents. Not a satisfactory arrangement, sir, but made in haste and
distress. Mrs. Revelly's devotion to her husband is such that in her
alarm for him, she did not perhaps sufficiently consider her children.
At the moment when, left alone, their difficulties began to press upon
them, your offer, your generous offer, for the house was made. There was
no time to submit it to their parents, nor, to be candid with you,
would there have been the slightest chance of Mr. Revelly's accepting
it. He has never been able to tolerate the mere suggestion of renting
Revelly Hall. But the four young people felt differently. It was
natural, it was in my opinion commendable, that they decided to move out
of their home for the sake of realizing a large sum--the largest sum
probably that had come into the family purse for many years. But an
obstacle soon appeared. You had insisted that servants should be
provided. This was impossible. They tried earnestly. Miss Claudia told
me herself that she went everywhere within a radius of twenty miles,
except to the jails. At last it became a question of refusing your
offer, or of--of--I believe you have already guessed the alternative."

"This is not a time for the exercise of my creative faculties, Mr. Reed.
What was their decision?"

Reed's discomfort increased. "I wish you could have been present as I
was, Mr. Crane, on that occasion. We were sitting round the fire in the
sitting-room, depressed that Miss Claudia's mission had not succeeded,
when suddenly she said, with a determination quite at variance with her
gentle appearance, 'Well, I've found a cook for him--and a mighty good
one, too.' 'Where did you find her?' I asked in astonishment, for only a
moment before she had been confessing absolute failure. 'I found her,'
she answered, 'where charity begins.' I own that even then I did not get
the idea, but her brother Paul, who always understands her, saw at once
what was in her mind. 'Yes,' she went on, 'I've found an excellent cook,
a good butler, a rather inefficient housemaid, and a dangerous extra
boy,' and she looked from one to the other of her family as she spoke.
Her meaning was clear. They themselves were to take the places of the
servants they could not find. As Paul pointed out, the plan had the
advantage of saving them the trouble of finding board and lodgings,
elsewhere. Miss Lily was opposed from the start. Her nature, exceedingly
ref